For what it’s worth, you’ve echoed my experience precisely.
It’s easy and good to talk in one-on-one or small groups of people. It’s also easy for me to speak publicly or in front of an audience. But interaction in strictly social settings—parties, bars, clubs—is almost painful. I don’t know how to begin. The impression is just that of trying to start climbing a wall that admits no footholds.
I’m pretty certain I don’t fall very far on the Asperger’s spectrum. In particular, I can read body language and subtext pretty well, and I’m considerate of others to a degree I haven’t seen in people I know who actually have Asperger’s. I suspect that, as others have said, we’re conflating distinct causes under a single banner.
Hi. I’m a lurker here, working on my PhD in Computer Science at the University of Wisconsin. I’ve only been reading for the last few months, but I’ve gone through all the major sequences in the archives.